The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1887-08-17
A BOLD DEAL.
Some of Tie Ways by Which Great Opera
tors Becomc Rich.

w
tors Become Rich.
Some years ago Gould created SEN
sation 10y going heavily short on /, ersey
entral stock, and it was advertised
that he was going to be badly squeezed,
aud prices wero sent bowling up at u
rapid gait, when suddenly Gould-who
had kept on selling ut the rising quota
tlons-smilingl produced big bundle
OF Jersey Central bonds that nobody
seemed to know anything about, 1con-
vertible"-so read their Endorsement
nto stock at the ation of the holder"
Prices fell with thump. Stock that
he had sold at ton figures Gould
bought back away down, and all his
ella uers howled their enthus asm in
and out of print. So smart thing had
never been heard of before in Wall
street-so shouted the Gould army
and almost everybody else Endorsed
this declaration. But correspondent
and good raconteur of the Boston Com
mcrcidL BuIteti1l says that this was be-
cause the story of Jacob Little wasn't
well known to Wall street men general
ly. Gould himself could have given
them vast deal of information on the
subject. for the fact was that lac had
been following closely an example set
forty years before, compared with
which his feat was but the merest
shadow. Gould was credited with hav-
ing made $500, 900 or $500, 600 by his
scheme. Jacob Little cleared 81, 10000
or $4,000, 600 by the original clever
ness, and Gould's work looked very I'M
important beside that which first
startled Wall street many years ago.
Little did this: One of the chief
stocks in the market began to rise in
price while he was carrying on vigor-
Gus bear campaign. 1t began to be
whispered around that big scheme
was on foot to break the old man, and
many n loser and envious magnate
joined the bull forces and gloated over
the prospective divis on of the Little
millions. A dozen of the best known
men in Wall street at that time were
in the bull pool, and every one of them
all was confident that finally they had
the chronic bear leader at great dis
advantage. He was certain to be
ruined. Up mounted the quotations.
And still unconcernedly on went Jacob
Little Sc ling the stock short, thous-
ands of shares upon thousands of shares.
Friends implored him to quit the SUI
cidal course. The plot against him
was pointed out, but he only smiled and
blandly so d that he didn't believe he
was in any danger. Then came the
day. fixed by the Wall street rules of
that time, when he had to deliver the
immense blocks of stock that he had
sold. Before O'Clock that morning
he Gov of.
door was TANNED by excited men
his assets. He walked down the street
leisurely. No sort of shadow seemed
to be on him. He stops a friend.
passes the compliments of the day,
and wonders what the crowd
in the street means. Don't you
understand? 2" calculates the friend.
"Why, man, they are waiting for you to
open your Office. and they are going to
demand all this stock you've sold short,
and, as you can't deliver, overheard
you go. You've sold twice the capital
stock of the company, and these men
have combined against you; there isn't
the slightest chance for you-not the
slightest !"
"Oh, there isn't, eh?" said Jacob
and he passed into the little building,
little better than a shanty, where he
had his Office The throng gave way
to let him pass, here and there some
exultant or excited individual indulg-
ing in jibe Mt the man who was to be
a bankrupt in minute or two. Some
time passed after Mr.. Little shut his
Office door behind him. The long line
of men grew clamorous. Every mo-
ments delay was more and more in the
line of proef that the great magnate of
the exchange would now finally confess
that he must go to the wall.
Then open flew the Office door just as
the clock struck 10, and behind his
counter, inside stood Jacob Little him
stack of parchment was at his right
hand. 1t was new stock. Not half
dozen men took it before the crowd
began 10 discover that something was
wrong. Jacob Little kept nobody in
doubt.
"The fact is" he said, with whole
bed of thistles in the midst of his
smile, "the fact is L haven't really been
short of the stock, for you see 1 had a
few millions of bonds, and they were
convertible into stock. That's the rea-
son 1 didn't get scared, you see."
Then there was panic. The corner
that had been SO beautifully planned
fell to pieces with a thud as sickening
as any French novelist ever expatiated
on. Everybody was on stampede.
With such q measureless quantity of
stock on hand Jacob Little had not
the slightest difficulty in offering to
fulfill every contract. Down tumbled
prices, and ali the stock that he had
sold at 60 and 50 and 100 he bought
back at Almost nothing Never had
Wall street seen such slip 'twixt the
cup and lip. Half the houses in Wall
street were heavy losers. Never had
the gospel of loaded dice taught its
lesson anywhere in all the world more
forcibly. Jacob Little remained king.
The Bravest Man He Ever Saw.
"The bravest Yankee soldier 1 ever
saw saws Henry w. Flournoy, Secre-